VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (letter).

Hospital's worth

April 23, 2003|By Sheila Barkes.

Mishawaka, Ind. — The stories of a historical building are as unique as any out of a worthwhile novel. They're treasures.

The pages in a book are the windows to the past. In turn, the windows and doors in a history-held hospital open up and reflect the lives that the hospital has protected, especially if they were lifesaving.

In "Fans rally to save old hospital; County building a symbol of city's past, group says" (Metro, April 17), I sat and read about the blatant dismissal of yet another historical piece of Chicago's history: Cook County Hospital.

No one truly "owns" a building, just as no one truly "owns" a book.

We're caretakers. Each is installed in our possession for safekeeping, and they rely on humans to do what's right: to share and care for them.

When monetary actions are involved in evaporating human memories, my first instinct is to question how a city so rich in color became so wrapped around the expanse of a wallet?

Reckless irresponsibility. And stubborn greed, no doubt. Or just stupidity.

Like any well-heeled book that survives by its own wit and charm--when shared, of course--a historical building is a home to the human emotions that make it tick. They are our voices from the past that have joined for a Sunday outing holding pockets of stories connecting generation to generation. They're here to teach us.

Don't we owe it to ourselves and our hard striving ancestors to achieve a responsibility of greatness in ownership?